Covelli Enterprises, the largest franchisee of Panera Bread, is proud to announce the Grand Opening of its newest Panera Bread location at Nationwide Children’s Hospital (NCH) on Tuesday, December 13 at 6:00 a.m. The new bakery-café will be located at 611 E. Livingston Avenue across from the main hospital.

This will be the first Panera Bread location on the NCH campus for Covelli Enterprises, which currently operates more than 300 Panera Bread locations in six states and in Canada including 45 in Central Ohio.

“We couldn’t be more proud of our relationship with Nationwide Children’s Hospital, so we are thrilled to expand it with a location on the main hospital’s campus,” said Sam Covelli, Owner/Operator of Covelli Enterprises. “We look forward to providing healthy food options in a clean, warm and welcoming environment for all Nationwide Children’s Hospital doctors, staff, and patients and continuing our support of the wonderful work being done at the hospital.”

“Panera is a great partner for Nationwide Children’s,” stated Patty McClimon, Senior Vice President of Strategic and Facilities Planning. “They offer healthy meal options in a fast, friendly environment. Our staff and patient families have been counting the days for them to arrive!”

The new Panera Bread at NCH will celebrate its opening with several special offers beginning Tuesday: Customers will receive a month of free coffee refills with the purchase of a $10 Panera Bread travel mug with a portion of all mug sales benefitting the hospital. Tuesday and Wednesday, customers will receive a $5 gift card to use on future visits with the purchase of any You-Pick-Two® meal. Panera Bread will also donate $1 from every $5 gift card redeemed within the first two weeks of the café opening. All Grand Opening offers will be honored only at the new bakery-café at the hospital.

Covelli Enterprises prides itself on its philanthropy and in 2015 donated $55,000 to NCH through various fundraising efforts. Covelli Enterprises has been a long-time supporter of the Memorial Tournament’s Bears for Children’s program through which they raise $10,000 annually for the hospital. The company also collects funds for NCH at the registers of its Central Ohio Panera Bread locations during five months of the year. Panera Bread has been a $25,000 Silver Sponsor for the past three years of the annual Columbus Marathon that benefits the hospital, and for the past three years, Panera Bread has also supported nurses at NCH through their annual Nurses Week program, through which they offer a free coffee and a bagel to all nurses in the NCH system.

In addition to monetary and in-kind support for the hospital, Albert M. Covelli, son of CEO Sam Covelli, currently sits on the NCH Foundation Board.

More about Covelli Enterprises
Covelli Enterprises is the largest franchisee of Panera Bread, LLC with more than 300 bakery-cafés in six states and in Canada. In 2015, the company donated more than $26 million to charity through unsold bread products for local hunger relief agencies and monetary donations to other non-profit organizations. www.covelli.com